The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to the configuration of information handling systems using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) communications.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Some IHS's such as, for example, IHS's operated using the Advanced Infrastructure Manager (AIM) from Dell, Inc., must be configured with a variety of information in order to allow the IHS to operate properly. For example, typically an AIM server must establish a connection with a controller, that controller's identity must then be confirmed, and then configuration information must be exchanged between the controller and the AIM server so that the image on the AIM server can be configured (e.g., the controller may determine a number of Network Interface Controllers (NICs) in the AIM server for assignment.) One of skill in the art will recognize that such configuration raises a number of issues because it requires communication over a network, and prior to configuration the AIM server is unable to perform many of the necessary configuration operations without first having an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Traditionally, the configuration discussed above is enabled by using a conventional Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server to provide for network configuration of the NICs in the AIM server so that the AIM server can then contact the controller, confirm the identity of the controller, and then receive the AIM server configuration information. However, this solution suffers from a number of deficiencies. For example, such a solution can results in multiple, independent, per-NIC clients operating simultaneously on boot, and those clients will often contend for global resources (e.g., the routing table.) Also, such a solution may allow the network configuration to persist across reboots, which leads to canonical problems, particularly in situations where the IHS's do not have identical hardware. For example, an image that runs as expected on a first IHS may not run as expected on a second IHS due to devices (e.g., NICs) in the second IHS being assigned incorrect addresses (e.g., addresses that allowed the NICs in the first IHS to operate as expected) or addresses that do not even exist.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved IHS configuration system and method.